The new cultivar is the result of a chance discovery in a commercial nursery in Galder, the Netherlands. The inventor, Adrianus van Heesbeen, a citizen of the Netherlands, discovered the new variety as a single whole plant, mutation of the parent variety, an unpatented, unnamed variety of Stokesia laevis. The discovery was made in July of 2007.
After selecting and isolating the new cultivar, asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘MELS BLUE’ was first performed in the same commercial nursery by vegetative division in March 2008. ‘MELS BLUE’ has since produced multiple generations and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.